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Opinion: July 2007

In an age of evidence-based living we apply little wisdom

Dr Mark Hannon | 27 July 2007 | Mark Hannon

It seems that every day one reads newspapers or watches television there is some new health food, health fad or magic tablet being marketed: the promise of eternal youth in a bottle. The market in over-the-counter medications in Ireland is... Read more

Shrouded in secrecy

Glenn Taylor | 27 July 2007 | Editorial

Glenn Taylor says let's face it: co-location is here to stay. However, the Government has done little so far to endear it to the Irish people by making the whole process seem as clear as mud Co-location is here to... Read more

National Pensions Lobby

Dr Robert Patrick Gill, MICGP, Secretary, NPL, Dr Harry Leahy MB, Dr Jas McMorrow MB, Dr Vincent Boland MB, Dr Illona Duffy MB | 27 July 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, Through your columns, may we thank the many GPs who have responded by letter and telephone to our National Pensions Forum. To illustrate our problem– recently after waiting four years we received an increase in GP (GMS) pensions.... Read more

Specialist in primary care

Damian Rutledge, MB MICGP, Sandymount, Dublin 4 | 27 July 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, I recently got a letter from the HSE in Tullamore signed by a person with a title of ‘specialist in primary care’. I am very interested in becoming a ‘specialist’ in primary care myself and I was wondering... Read more

The conundrum of co-location has a ready resolution

J Bernard Walsh, Consultant Physician and Clinical Professor, St James's Hospital and Trinity College Dublin | 27 July 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, There is genuine concern among many doctors and other healthcare workers that co-located hospitals, rather than benefiting the population they serve, could leave us with a significant worsening of our current health system. While the operating policy of... Read more

Why a major crisis will really rock our hospitals

Dr Mick Molloy | 27 July 2007 | Mick Molloy

In recent weeks Ireland has seen its fair share of emergencies; a bus crash in Cork, the plane and helicopter crashes in Galway, the staircase collapse in the Natural History Museum in Dublin and the incident in Dun Laoghaire harbour... Read more

Maternity modernity

Colin Kerr | 20 July 2007 | Editorial

Colin Kerr says a national strategy for women's health should be implemented along with a review group comprising of hospital management and HSE and doctors' representatives The proposal that one of Dublin’s maternity hospitals be re-located to the Mater Hospital... Read more

Inequality is still rife in Ireland despite a number of advances

Declan Jones, Chief Executive, Focus Ireland | 20 July 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, I refer to the report (Irish Medical Times, 6 July 2007) that a group of GPs working in Ireland’s most deprived area have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to help them establish a new primary care team... Read more

Remembrance parties

Dr Patrick Troy, Strawberry Beds, Dublin 20 | 20 July 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, Jervis Street Hospital was founded in the seventeenth century– 1654 I believe– and treated the sick of Dublin for over 300 years. In November this year the anniversary of the closure of Jervis Street Hospital falls. A party... Read more

Northsiders have 'tortuous wait' for services funding

Deputy Tommy Broughan, Labour Party TD, Dublin North East, Leinster House, Dublin 2 | 20 July 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, There is deep disappointment on Dublin’s northside at the so-called “deal” announced in Dáil Éireann by Independent Deputy Finian McGrath. There is nothing new for the northside in the items listed by Deputy McGrath. For many years I... Read more

Poles apart– family practice in Poland from 1950s onward

Dr Thecla Scully | 20 July 2007 | Guests

Present day Poland was settled by Slavic groups in the sixth and seventh centuries and the Polish state was founded in 966. Between the 14th and 17th centuries, it was a strong and prosperous country with a flourishing culture, but... Read more

RTE documentary brings back memories

Dr Mick Molloy | 20 July 2007 | Mick Molloy

RTE is rerunning its Junior Doctors series at a most appropriate time, early July, when most NCHD staff are changing from one hospital to another and a fresh batch of interns is let loose in the wards of Ireland’s hospitals.... Read more

The most important matter in the Mater debate is the sick children

David FitzGerald, Goatstown, Dublin | 20 July 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, You report Dr Brendan O’Hare (Irish Medical Times, 29 June 2007) as having said that the only people in Ireland who support the Mater Hospital site for the national children’s hospital are people with vested interests in the... Read more

Standard of care is of concern to Age Action

Eamon Timmins, Head of Advocacy and Communications, Age Action Ireland Ltd, 30/21 Lower Camden St, Dublin 2 | 20 July 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, Age Action is concerned about the continuing reports by HSE inspectors of sub-standard care in private nursing homes. While the independent inspectorate currently being established by the Health Information and Quality Authority has a major role to play... Read more

There is still time to vote in the Seanad elections

Dr Maurice Gueret, Trinity Seanad Election Candidate, Terenure, Dublin 6 | 20 July 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, I would like to alert readers who are graduates of Trinity College Dublin that there is still time for them to vote, even if they have yet to receive ballot papers for the forthcoming Seanad Election. Currently about... Read more

Co-location policy needs to safeguard patient-centred care

Dr Pascal O’Dea, Dr Brendan Coffey & Dr Aoife Cody, Family Doctors Medical Centre, Bachelors Walk, Bagenalstown, Co Carlow | 13 July 2007 | Letters

Dear Minister Harney, We are writing requesting clarification on several important issues relating to the Government’s hospital co-location policy. What mandatory conditions apply to the tenders for co-location which will safeguard patient-centred care and the benefit to the community at... Read more

Hospitals must facilitate NCHDs for inductions

Dr Mick Molloy | 13 July 2007 | Mick Molloy

Thousands of NCHDs will have started in new jobs in the last few days. Many will never have worked previously in the site they are now in. Some will have started on Sunday 1 July without knowing much about the... Read more

American healthcare model can show us way forward

Dr Mark Hannon | 13 July 2007 | Mark Hannon

I recently attended a conference in the US which provided me with an excellent opportunity to witness the many differences between practising medicine on either side of the pond. Many media commentators use the example of the US healthcare system... Read more

Co-location salutation

13 July 2007 | Editorial

Colin Kerr says the next few weeks will be interesting now that the IMO has changed its once unbudging stance against co-location to welcoming it with the inclusion of several caveats Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Minister for Health Mary Harney... Read more

Crisis. What crisis?

06 July 2007 | Editorial

Colin Kerr says Mary Harney must start listening to doctors and then implement the changes that they, as the hands-on service providers, recommend to her and the HSE The Minister for Health, Mary Harney told the Dáil last week that... Read more

An argument put to bed

Dr Peadar Gilligan | 06 July 2007 | Guests

I read with interest the articles by Greg Baxter and Prof Brendan Drumm in Irish Medical Times on 15 June 2007. In Greg Baxter’s report entitled ‘HSE say more beds is not the answer’, he argues that the Emergency Department... Read more

A dearth of money is spent on ABI service

Michael D Higgins, Labour Party President and Dáil deputy for Galway West, Leinster House, Dublin 2 | 06 July 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, The admission from the Health Service Executive (HSE) in a letter to me, that the funding they provide nationally for people with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) is “inadequate” is welcome for its honesty, if not for the implications... Read more

Expert report was delivered on time

Dr Terry Lynch, Ballykeefe, Limerick | 06 July 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, I refer to the article by Dr Dermot Walsh (former inspector of Mental Hospitals) entitled ‘Vision must not become mirage’ (Irish Medical Times, 15 June 2007). In this article, Dr Walsh is quoted as saying that the “implementation... Read more

The HSE is 'half-right'

Dr Christine O’Malley, Consultant Geriatrician, Nenagh General Hospital, Co Tipperary | 06 July 2007 | Letters

Dear Editor, The HSE is right. Well, half-right (‘Clinicians are in charge, says HSE’, Irish Medical Times, 15 June 2007). The decision to admit a patient to hospital is made by clinicians and not managers or bed managers. The decision... Read more

A cautionary tale for the intern treating patients outside hospital

Dr Mick Molloy | 06 July 2007 | Mick Molloy

It’s a very exciting time of year for interns, with six years of studying completed they are in the real world. For some reality hits a little quicker than with others. I flew to the south of France recently for... Read more